At Oakland's Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse Judge Victoria Kolakowski doesn't hear her name voiced much in the corridors and offices of the East Bay city's old municipal court building.
"Everyone calls me Judge now. It is like my new name," said Kolakowski. "They say, 'Hi Judge.' Everybody in the courthouse calls the judges Judge."
The lack of personal identifiers for the elected judges can be advantageous.
"One of my colleagues said the good thing about it is you don't have to remember people's names," recalled Kolakowski of a remark made by a fellow jurist.
The anonymity is a stark change from the worldwide attention Kolakowski received last November after winning her election to become the country's first transgender trial court judge. Her victory garnered headlines around the globe and reporters sought her out to discuss her being a role model for transgender people.
The press coverage hasn't translated to her everyday life, said Kolakowski. She continues to maintain a low profile in public despite the media focus.
"I feel like I am this non-celebrity celebrity," said Kolakowski. "No one knows who I am if I am walking down the street. No one comes running over to me and asks, 'Are you Judge Kolakowski?'"
That could soon change, as Kolakowski will be marching before the hundreds of thousands of people watching this Sunday's San Francisco Pride Parade as one of the community grand marshals. Pride officials believe she is the first out sitting judge to receive such an honor.
And in October she will be featured as one of the 2011 Icons during GLBT History Month organized by Equality Forum.
"I am in there with Lady Gaga and Neil Patrick Harris and Alan Cumming. It just seems so strange," said Kolakowski, who is the wife of Bay Area Reporter news editor Cynthia Laird. "I get that I am a role model and have broken through this glass ceiling. The truth is, to the average person on the street, they have no idea who I am and that is okay."
Kolakowski, 49, is somewhat of a celebrity within legal circles. After she surprised nearly everyone last June with her first place finish in the primary for an open seat on the Alameda County Superior Court, Kolakowski began being invited to address legal groups and speak at law conferences.
In July Gender Spectrum, a group for parents of gender variant children, has asked Kolakowski to address a conference it is hosting in Berkeley. A documentary about the transgender community, Finding New Hope , features Kolakowski's historic victory and is aiming for an August premiere.
The University of La Verne College of Law in Ontario, California, has asked her to be a keynote speaker at its transgender law and policy conference next winter. She is also in talks to return this fall to her old alma mater, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, to address the school's LGBT law student group.
"I want people to see there is hope; that although we have struggles as transgender people, we are making progress. It is possible for us to achieve success," she said. "It can seem pretty hopeless at times when you are facing discrimination for who you are."
Certain restrictions apply
Due to her needing to remain impartial when she is on the bench hearing cases, Kolakowski must abide by certain restrictions concerning her public appearances. While she can attend fundraisers and speak at functions when a group honors her, she does not promote such events in advance. And she is forbidden from making political endorsements unless it is for a judicial race.
"As a judge I have certain ethical constraints on what I can do and talk about or activities I engage in," said Kolakowski.
In light of last week's ruling that the gay judge who struck down California's anti-gay marriage ban Proposition 8 did not need to recuse himself from hearing the case, Kolakowski said she has given some thought about what cases she would recuse herself from based on her sexual orientation and past involvement with LGBT advocacy groups.
"There are certain matters I would recuse myself on because of work I had previously done. For example, if a clear marriage equality case was before me," said Kolakowski, who married Laird in 2008. "Not because of the fact I am a member of the LGBT community or married. I would feel uncomfortable given my own political involvement in that issue before."
Asked if she would recuse herself from hearing a case involving the murder of a transgender person, Kolakowski said it would depend on the facts of the case.
"In general I don't think it would impact my ability to be fair and impartial," she said. "If an organization where I was a leader, such as the Transgender Law Center, was appearing as a party, I would recuse myself because of the direct conflict."
After being declared one of the grand marshals chosen by the public in April, Kolakowski asked for an ethics opinion from the California Judges Association to ensure she wasn't violating her judicial code of conduct.
The one sentence response, with the letter J used to keep Kolakowski's identity confidential, simply said, "Yes, so long as J can ensure that J's placement in the parade will be near groups whose behavior will not demean the judicial office."
"I got an ethics opinion that it is okay to march," said Kolakowski. "I am supposed to be careful about who I am around. I guess the idea is because of the dignity of the office I shouldn�t be around some of the more exuberant participants."
Kolakowski has asked the LGBT legal group Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, on whose board she once served, to march with her in the parade.
"It's really been wonderful the past six months and I appreciate all the support people have given me the past few years through the whole election process," said Kolakowski. "In some ways I feel like I have reached the happily ever after part. But in a lot of ways, this journey is just beginning."